Bathroom floor

The beadboard is installed as is most of the chair rail capping it off. I primed the wood front and back. I then called in plumbers to run new supply and waste lines for the sink and toilet. I was expecting copper but who knew there was this new thing called pex, not me. I was a bit disappointed but there it is.
Here is the little toilet alcove. It is a really small space. A large person may not be able to wiggle his/her hips in there to sit on the toilet.

I put the underlayment down. I bought 2 sheets of CMX 1/2 inch plywood. I made a template of the floor area out of pink rosen paper, just a loose design. The main floor area is just under 4x8 feet so I trimmed the plywood to fit. I maneuvered the big sheet into the room and then could not get it down on the floor. I needed to slide the wood under the trim around the door but the heater vent and the shut off valves made it impossible. I ended up cutting the sheet of plywood in two. Of course the two cut ends matched perfectly and it was fine for the first layer. I bought two sheets of Luan for the second layer. I am unsure if I need to cut that into two. It should be easier to manipulate as it is only 1/4 inch thick.

The piece of vinyl I bought months ago is now laying flat on the basement floor. Again, I am going with the cheaper, temporary option. I would love to have hex tile but I don't think it was ever in this house. When tearing up the old floor, I uncovered a faux birck linoleum. This is also the first layer of flooring in the kitchen (under about 3 other layers of vinyl). Was the faux brick linoleum original? I am not sure. My house was built in 1935 and I have not seen evidence of it being around that early.

Bathroom work

Ideas on pages clipped from magazines



I began by installing a Swanstone tub surround. At the time, I did not have the money or the skill (I thought) to tile the bathtub/shower. I researched the Swanstone and it seemed like it would work for my space. I think I paid about $750 for the kit, which included color-coordinated caulk, adhesive & cove molding for corners. I also ordered corner shelves but I ended up not using them because I thought they looked plasticy and cheap. The Swanstone is holding up well, it has been in use for about 7 years. It was meant to be temporary, I prefer ceramic tile but I am still not ready to mess with the grout.

Then I started with the wainscot on the walls, to a height of 4 feet. This matched the height of the chair rail in the kitchen

This little area on the side of the tub was tricky.

I stripped the old paint from the windows and medicine cabinet. There were many layers. The wood was originally painted so I repainted.
It took me a few tries to the get the correct wall color and I could not duplicate it now. It started out a green that was just too minty. I kept going back to the paint store (SW) and adding more blue tint to the can.

I installed new sconces. They cost about $12 each from Tar-szhae. I had just spent all my money for the down payment on the house so the remodeling budget was small. Easy to replace when the budget allows. I like them, though.

Remember before?

Bathroom-Before

When I bought my house, I was happy that it had a ceramic tiled bath. It was not original tile but it was a fairly clean, functional and solid bathroom. I loved the arched alcoves over the sink and tub and the built in medicine cabinet. I was not so happy about the little plywood cabinet holding up the sink or the beige vinyl floor. Also the original window had been replaced. The bathroom window is the only vinyl replacement window in the house, all the rest are original.

I had no idea how quickly the tile would began to fail. It starting falling off the walls almost immediately. The shower area crumbled apart in a matter of months. Redoing the bathroom got pushed to the top of the list.

There was an ugly lamp above the medicine cabinet and I took that out. There were shadows of previous sconces on each side of the cabinet, so I put in electrical boxes to reinstall those and installed a GFCI outlet

As I took the tile off the walls I found it had basically been glued and much of the plaster crumbled off around it. I ended up removing the lower portion of plaster. The plaster had a stamped pattern in it like that in the kitchen.

When I removed the toilet and the plaster behind it, I saw the vent stack had rusted through. There were holes in that cast iron pipe releasing oh lovely sewer gas smells into the walls. Had I not replaced the plaster, I might not have noticed this. I called in plumbers to replace the vent stack.

Here is the arch over the toilet. I had tried to save most of the plaster on the back wall but the plumbers destroyed it when they placed the new vent pipe.

So then I was in full demolition mode.

Beautiful.
There are no pictures but I used a putty knife and scraped all the paint of the plaster walls. The ease at which it came off the walls let me know that any new paint on top would be destined to fail. I scraped down to bare plaster. I patched many, many cracks and primed the walls. I began patching the ceiling but that was too difficult and hard on my neck so I decided to cover it with drywall.

More plaster repair

2 parts StructoLite to 1 part Diamond Veneer Finish makes a good scratch coat to repair the plaster that fell off the walls when the baseboards were removed in the living room.


I sprayed the old lath with water before applying the plaster. It is fairly easy to work with. Especially when I know it will be totally covered up.


This is an outside wall so repairing the plaster helps cut down on the drafts. It has been cold here.

I am so glad to be putting things together rather than tearing them apart. Still lots of trim to strip, though.

A New/Old Light

This was the light in my dining room this morning. It has been hanging there for about 6 months. The 5 years prior there was no overhead light due to the "Oops-I-cut-the-wrong-wire fiasco of 2002" that lead to the loss of all overhead lights. There were lots of floor lamps for a long time. The original dining room light was long gone when I moved in and there was a 5-arm brass and globe light there until I cut it down. I finally put in a new box and wiring.

I found a beautiful old light at the Habitat Restore. The glass shade was designed to hang from three ball chains. I have similar lights in the two bedrooms so it seemed like a good match for the house. But, the light shade was so heavy that I did not trust the chains to hold it. I have been looking for some other way to use the shade. Ideally, I would find a vintage fixture to match it. I also looked at lighting stores for possible solutions but none were within my budget.








Then one day at the ReStore I found this monstrosity. Bright brass, crackled glass--- but still....

A little priming and some faux rubbed bronze spray paint....

















And a new/old light. I am satisfied with how it turned out. I think it is pretty. There are few things that are pretty in my house at this point in the restoration. It is a big light, about 18" across. I have it on a dimmer switch and I like the shadows it throws on the ceiling.
It is a good solution for now. Until I can pair it up with a proper vintage base.

Sewing table

I sew a lot. Lately I have been sewing baby slings for distribution by a local home visiting program to new families. I have made over 300 at last count. This was my sewing table. When I am not sewing slings, I sew quilts and a large table makes quilt wrangling more manageable.

I found a nice set of drawers at the local Habitat Restore. It is solid wood, with nice gliding drawers and it was just the right height to fit under my table. But it stuck out past the end.


I kept my eye out for a new table top and the ReStore came through for me. It is wider and longer and I like the gray color better than the false wood grain. So I decided to recreate my sewing table with the recessed machine for a flat surface to work on.

I used a jigsaw to cut the opening. I hung a little shelf using four 4 inch bolts that I countersunk into the table top. My sewing machine is shown with the front removable section taken off.


I then routered out a little lip to hold a piece of custom cut Plexiglas (actually, it was a clipboard in an earlier life). This pops out to allow me access to the bobbin case.
The locking nuts on the end of the bolts allow me to fine tune the machine placement so I can get it level. I need to make some plugs for the holes left by the bolts.



A much larger sewing table with drawers for the stuff I use. I moved most of my sewing things into my extra bedroom. I am still working on insulating the attic and it is dusty upstairs. I also cleared things out in anticipation of painting the space and replacing the carpeting.


A dog's-eye view of the sewing studio as it is now.

Too darn difficult

This was difficult. This the last overhead light that needed to be wired. The house had all knob and tube wiring when I bought it and I have been working the past 5+ years to rewire it. It is a 1 1/2 story cape code with walk-in attic space in the upper level. This has made rewiring fairly simple. Lift attic floor boards for complete access to the ceiling fixtures in the rooms below.
This light is in a hallway nearer to the center of the house- not easy to access. There is a carpeted, finished room above. I could write about how I did it but would take too long. I used a fish tape, wire hanger and a metal hook you stick in the ground and hang a plant on, no kidding. Maybe I could have cut more holes in the wall but I hate patching plaster. Just one access hole cut in the upper right of the picture.

Yes, I still have my Christmas tree up... 12 days of Christmas or something like that..

Here is the access hole.

















I have cool arches above my tub and toilet in the bathroom and it is weird to see them from above. I swear I can hide a family in there during the occupation... sshhh

What you see on the right is the vent pipe for the bathroom exhaust fan. A bit of insulation work needed there. There is the arch above the toilet just below the cardboard square. You can see a portion of the arch above the tub and the shower pipe entering the ceiling of the arch. Make sense?? But this is not the area I needed to access.
...
















Here is the flip side...
..pictures of the bathroom work to come another time...

This way....
There is the wire, the old and the new. I just need to hang the fixture, put in the switch, patch the access hole near the ceiling, hook it up to live power and ... take down the Christmas decorations.


We have had lots of snow in the past few weeks.
My dog, Rosa.